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James Day Preview: Ottawa Visits The Boston Soccer

The Ottawa Senators are going to Boston!! Neutral zone trappin’, low scorin’ and TIES? Boston’s still somehow allowed ’em!
Come see all your favorite Bruins stars! Peverley, Thornton 2, Jagriaga and…Chariaga and they’ll ALL be clogging up the neutral zone!

The worst thing about the Sens inability to defeat Boston is that one has to sit through a Boston game with no reward at the end. This teaaaaaam. So as Varada mentioned in a previous post (IM NOT MADE OF ARCHIVE LINKS) that looking at Ottawa’s remaining matches it’s safe to chalk this one up as a loss. Oh Varada you so cray-zay probably right.
The thing is, is that though this 58 year old man ain’t denying that the Bruins own the shit out of the Senators but the past few match ups could have gone either way. Considering it will probably be 0 – 0 for 90% of the game I would be happy to see Ottawa come out of this one with a point. James Day Preview, redefining what optimism is…for all of us! #PeskyExpectations
I don’t expect this Bruins team to be any easier an opponent for the boys, but it is pretty welcome news that perpetual phisher in Ottawa’s butt Brad Marchand is sitting out tonight’s tilt. Though it looks like Patrice Bergeron will get his burger on tonight with a return to the lineup after missing time suffering a concussion. Regardless of how their side lines up, Boston is a pretty deep team and despite dropping their last two, the Sens will have their work cut out for them against such a frustrating defensive system team. That said, if Ottawa’s going to take Boston down tonight’s their best shot.

And Now…The Crazy Old Man Singers!
You know what cray-cray baby cousin? Jaromir Jagr is tied for no.1 in scoring on the Bruins. Who’d have thought that playing most of the season on the Dallas Stars would make me completely unaware of a player’s output!? The 41 year old future first ballot hall of famer still puts up an Alfredssonian 18.5 minutes a game and I expect him to be a big factor tonight. Ottawa has a quadragenarian all their own in Papa Alfie who is tied for the team lead in goals with 10. Two playoff teams with 40+ scoring leaders. Parity thy name is NHL…or thy name is something. Jagr is currently riding a hot streak with 6 points in his last 4 games. Alfie is no slouchy old man (AKA me) either with three points in his last three games. I for one am excited to see how The Battle of the Old Mans shakes out. Well, as excited as one can be about watching a Bruins game.

Naturally Matt Kassian is Playing Tonight
Turns out he draws into the lineup in exchange for LATENDRESSE? Damn this team MUST be getting healthier…that or I am just having a wee daymare and should be waking up aaaaaany minute now….Okay, well apparently that’s a thing. Oh, this just in: Jim O’Brien is reportedly going to get very, very drunk tonight. Stay tuned to find out if he’ll be doing any crying while curled up in the shower. Life of a bottom 6 player: Cuts like a knife (dont get any ideas J.O.B.!).
We all know Kassian was brought aboard for games like this. Now I dont want to put too much pressure on the guy but can delivering several punches to Scott Thornton’s head be just what the Sens needed to break the Bruins Curse? Couldn’t be the need to score more than one goal against Boston…nope it’s the intangibles like taking a five minute major. Holy shit I just realized the funniest possible scenario: Matt Kassian fights twice and scores in 1-0 win. Would be so worth it just to sit back and watch people argue over it.

Can #JGP Keep It Up?
Jean Gabriel Pageau is enjoying a point per game pace and shooting 100% since being called up from Binghamton. The smart money is that the rookie will regress to more realistic numbers as he plays more games. You know what though? That’s what Smart Money says. Sometimes on James Day I like to deal in Stupid Money. I would absolutely love to see Pageau go on a ridiculous tear for the rest of the regular season. It would make things really fun for training camp next year. Oh and also, it would mean Ottawa would likely be putting up more than point a game against the B’s. Anyway, I absolutely love to see a kid making the most of his opportunity. J-Gab (?) is making Bryan Murray look like one shrewd dude right now — I am the worst.

Part Where I Talk About Goaltending
Given that Robin Lehner was in goal for Ottawa’s last win against the B’s back on Febterday 34th, 1879, he’s gotten the past few starts against them. Despite some losses in the meantime Lehner’s played quite well against them but will not be getting the nod tonight.
Coming off a very strong shutout performance against a desperate Devils team who seemingly spent the entire 3rd period camped out in Ottawa’s end Craig Anderson needs to simply be himself to give Ottawa a chance tonight. What I mean is, regardless of whether Lehner or Anderson gets the start those guys BEEN had given Ottawa chances to win against Boston this season. What Ottawa needs to do is bury a few. With Silfverberg and ZIbanejad both going pointless in their past 3 games now would be the night to remedy that and put a few hero bucks in their respective pockets. Also, it would make for interesting television. Catch you on twitter tonight …or right now…I don’t have much going on, really.